TURN BACK
by Paravoina
Summary: The dark spirit of ZORC knew he was to be defeated and banished from the realm again when the Pharaoh returned to finish the duel in Yugi's place (DSOD). But he had a last ditch plan to save himself and destroy the Pharaoh once and for all. However, things didn't quite go according to plan... (Loosely PMD based. T rating for just in case.)
1. PROLOGUE

/I do not own Pokémon or Yugioh! Feel like I need to put a disclaimer here, lol... anyways, this is my first Actual Story(tm)! I hope it's not... quite as trashy as I think it might be./

* * *

He was winning, but that was only natural. The dark spirit had coaxed and coached Diva into doing his bidding, until eventually he'd been able to corrupt his soul and turn him dark as the spirit's own heart. Diva was a childish fool, he thought with a sadistic grin on his face. Thinking he could create a peaceful utopia with hatred in his own heart? How quaint.

And now the dark spirit, who called himself in this form Dark Diva, was facing down the last of his enemies still standing- the vessel of the passed Pharaoh. But what was that vessel supposed to do against him? Without Atem, this boy Yugi Muto was useless. He'd be given up to the darkness as every other creature had within minutes.

However, it did frustrate him slightly- Seto Kaiba had redirected an attack meant to end the miserable life of the vessel to himself, obsessed with bringing the long-gone Pharaoh back from the grave. And Yugi still stubbornly held onto his last remaining Life Points, refusing to let an attack get in to end him.

"I send Clear Kuriboh to the Graveyard so I won't take any damage!" The annoying pest made that move as he spoke, reducing Dark Diva's monster's damage to zero.

But Dark Diva sneered- he and Yugi both knew Crimson Nova Trinity's attack wasn't done. " **That's not good enough, Yugi! Crimson Nova Trinity can still cut your Life Points in half!** "

He heard a satisfying cry of pain as his attack connected. Yugi activated Clear Kuriboh's other effect- but it was too late. Dark Diva felt himself becoming stronger as the little boy that reminded him too much of the one he hated most faded. He began to speak, Dark Diva could see his mouth forming words- but whatever he had to say, it was too late. The monstrous creature's mouth twisted into a sick grin as he watched Yugi begin to buckle and fall.

And then that grin was dashed by a horrid golden light. " **What? NO!** " Dark Diva cried. He saw that beast, that THING, emerging from the light. With a new strength, one no earthly human could have held. " **THE PHARAOH HAS RETURNED?!** "

Atem gave him one of those frustratingly cocky smirks the duelist was known for, before drawing a card himself. And then he summoned the ONE MONSTER from his deck that could beat Dark Diva's Crimson Nova Trinity... Mahad... Dark Diva snarled. Not again! NOT AGAIN!

That Pharaoh was going to banish him to the darkness again, and this time the dark spirit knew it would be permanent. But he couldn't let that happen. HE COULDN'T LET THAT HAPPEN.

Crimson Nova Trinity was destroyed of course, and Dark Diva could feel his body ripping and tearing apart from the rules of his own game- but he had a last ditch plan to save himself and he sure as fire wasn't just going to take this. " **PHARAOH!** " The beast yelled, struggling a bit with his words from the pain. Atem actually seemed slightly surprised he hadn't immediately been destroyed, but still refused to speak to him, which angered Dark Diva even more. " **PHARAOH, THIS IS NOT MY END! I will NOT allow it to be! I may not be able to plunge THIS WORLD into darkness, but I can still cause despair in ANOTHER!** "

He called upon the power of the Plana and the Quantum Cube one last time, feeling them fading, but not enough that he couldn't at least pull this off! If this worked, he could still pull off his ultimate revenge, and more importantly save himself from this abysmal fate!

" **GOODBYE PHARAOH!** " Dark Diva shouted at his old enemy. He erupted into a laugh- THIS would be the end! " **I will sacrifice the remaining power of the Plana to save myself from destruction! And I will destroy YOU TOO, PHARAOH**!"

The shocked look on Atem's face was intoxicating. Dark Diva grinned, and did exactly that, ripping through the power of the Plana to activate one last effect, that would end his reign of shadows in this world and begin it anew in another. And it would END Atem, this Dark Yugi, once and for all!

" **GOODBYE!** " He said again, before releasing that power.

It hurt, it hurt so much.. but he did not scream. As his body was now torn to shreds, he laughed. For he knew HE was getting the last laugh.

HE WON.

* * *

The world would be freed of its darkness. It would seem everything had returned to normal in just a few minutes of how it had been before. People returned from where they had vanished into the darkness, becoming whole again with not much clue of what had happened. The only people who had truly known anything were those watching the KC Tournament duels that day, and even they were mystified to what had truly happened.

However, there were some people still missing. Mokuba cried out in distress suddenly, sending Roland to his side immediately. "Sir, what is it?" The Kaiba Corp employee asked, sounding more worried than he probably meant to be.

"Big bro... he's not down there!" Mokuba cried. Roland couldn't stop him as he hopped down to the platform his brother, Yugi and Diva had been dueling on. "And Yugi's gone too! BIG BRO!"

He looked around desperately, but there was no Seto Kaiba to be found. What had happened to him? "BIG BRO?!"

"Sir!" He turned to see a few more of Seto's men coming onto the platform. "Yugi Muto's friend group has disappeared as well!"

Mokuba had told the men to watch for Yugi's friends as well just in case, and now his eyes widened in fear. What could this mean? "You can't find them anywhere?" He asked, hearing his own voice crack.

The men spoke into their earpieces, waited a moment, and then one of them solemnly shook his head. "No, sir. Kaiba Corp sensors don't see them anywhere in the city. There is a possibility the sensors are on the fritz..."

Though Mokuba knew from him trailing off this was just an attempt to make the boy feel better. But Mokuba knew the truth- Yugi, Seto, all of them were gone. Diva had done something to them.

Wait, Diva...

"What about Diva! You know, the guy Seto and Yugi were dueling!" Mokuba tried. "Can you find him anywhere?"

Another pause, waiting for a response from someone on the other end of the earpiece. And then another shake of the head.

Mokuba was at a loss now- it was hard to process. Seto was gone. Just like that, gone. Probably forever. He sank to his knees, the world spinning. This wasn't just like a kidnapping, or his brother disappearing to duel Yugi or something like that. His brother was _gone_...

He was interrupted by Roland tapping him on the back. "Sir... I hate to interrupt you, but we found this where Diva has been standing mid duel."

And there in Roland's hands was the Quantum Cube. It appeared to be active- but instead of being a bright orange like it should have been, it was an almost dead-looking whitish color. It felt ice cold to the touch. "What should you have us do with this Cube, sir?"

It took Mokuba a moment to process a response to that question, his mind still quite in shock from the sheer impossibility of his big brother being gone. But eventually he said, "We need to study it. And see if there's any way to bring them- to bring Seto back..."

Because there had to be a way. Mokuba knew there had to be. Seto couldn't be gone. He couldn't be, he just had to have been sent somewhere else.

He was still alive...

Right?

* * *

/And that was the end of the Prolouge! No Pokémon this time around, this was just to introduce our particular plot and give you a chance to jump ship now if you hate my writing style with a particular passion. But if you're still here and in for the ride, we're going to be seeing our first look at the Pokémon world really soon! Look forward to it, lads!/


	2. CHAPTER 1: ISCALDER

/I do not own Pokémon or Yugioh! And now it's time for the first chapter! I'll be sure to start posting links to concept art after this!/

* * *

Yugi's entire body felt cold and wet. Like he'd been dipped in a bucket of ice water or had gone out into the rain in the winter.

...was this what death felt like? He was pretty sure he was dead- everything had gone black in the middle of his duel with Diva, as he had begun to fall from the strain of dueling in a Shadow Game, his body simply giving out. But right before he had gone, he had seen a golden light- shouldn't that have meant something GOOD should have happened? So why could he only see darkness, and why was it so cold?

He tried to move, and found he could at least do that- though admittedly, he couldn't move much. It felt like there were rocks near beneath where he was laying, or possibly floating; he wasn't even sure if he was on any sort of ground.

Well, if this was the afterlife, it sure was a crummy one. He was kind of hoping he would've been able to join Atem when he died, but it looked like he was stuck to this dark limbo-

Wait... no, was that a light? He thought he saw something, very faint, but a light all the same. And, ignoring the fact that he should by no means be able to make any noise loud enough to hear in whatever fluid he was in, Yugi desperately screamed out for help. "HEY! IS ANYONE THERE?! PLEASE, HELP ME! I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM!"

There was nothing at first- he was surprised water hadn't immediately filled his lungs when he'd tried to speak, which really cemented the 'I'm dead' theory. But then he heard muffled footsteps and the light appeared again. It then became clear to him that he appeared to be trapped under a sheet of ice, as a surprisingly big silhouette that appeared to be distinctly humanoid, carrying something in their hands making said light, appeared above him and began speaking in a muffled manner above said sheet.

And then they brought something sharp down right beside his head to break said ice. Yugi yelped, not having expected that, but they did appear to be trying to help him at least. Pretty soon, the figure had broken the ice sheet and pulled him up with surprising ease. They were human, that much he could tell through his spotty vision, but they were like a giant to him. Man, he MUST be dead if he's seeing people taller than Kaiba...

The King of Games found that quite unfortunately, he could not move a muscle. He figured that was normal, considering he had no idea how long he had been under that ice for and that, alive or dead, being in ice water for a long period of time when that isn't what you're used to is sure to have repercussions. So he allowed this giant stranger to carry him wherever they were trying to take them. He couldn't make out their face in the darkness, but they didn't feel malicious. How he knew this, he wasn't sure. But that was the conclusion he came to.

It was then Yugi realized he was pretty much running purely on adrenaline, and that that adrenaline was quickly fading. Though he tried to stay awake, he found himself falling asleep against his own will. And eventually, the admittedly calming sway of being carried by this giant stranger and the exhaustion he was feeling got the better of him and he fell asleep- or more fainted.

* * *

"Oh, it fainted..." the boy noticed the runty, cloth-like creature in his arms had lolled its head, closing its eyes. He carried a lantern in his right hand, having been lighting the path for his friends when he had heard a cry from nearby. He had gone to investigate and had found a Shuppet, somehow having gotten itself trapped beneath a sheet of ice. It was common for Pokémon to get trapped in the icy waters of Iscalder Cave, but Shuppet weren't even from this area, and they most certainly wouldn't get trapped with the way they floated around, right?

He considered the idea that this poor Pokémon had been purposefully abandoned or dunked under the ice to end its life, especially with the necklace around its neck giving it a touch of having been owned by a human at least once. Had it suffered abuse, he wondered? It certainly seemed trusting of him, though that might have just been because it was exhausted.

His silent musings were interrupted by a girl running up to him, looking quite frazzled and a bit angry. "Leo!" She growled as she reached him. "You are in SO MUCH TROUBLE!"

"W-What?" The boy, now identifiable as Leo, stammered.

"I cannot BELIEVE you would leave us behind like that!" She continued in a huff, grabbing the arm he was holding the lantern in and forcing him to take the unconscious Shuppet into his other.

"I'm sorry Lily, I didn't mean to, I was just-"

"I don't want to hear any excuses!" Lily cut off his explanation. "Look, just... don't do that again, okay? You're our only light source in this Arceus-forsaken cave!"

Leo just decided to smile and nod. Soon he was brought back to a small traveling group- it consisted of himself, Lily, a pudgier, tall boy named Samuel, and an older guy named Gerald who had appointed himself as group leader.

Said group leader had his arms crossed in annoyance as Lily returned with Leo. Leo flinched away from his glare. "Oh, uh, hey."

"Not cool, Leo," the borderline adult started himself. "We can't get through this cave without you, and you know the Repel Lantern is the only thing keeping wilds from jumping out at... What is that?"

He was referring to the Shuppet Leo was carrying. "Oh, uh... well, to make a long story short, I kind of saved this guy?" Leo said, a little sheepish about the whole situation at this point. "This Shuppet got trapped under ice somehow and I got it out. But it's fainted and needs to get back to a Pokémon Center for sure..."

If it wasn't for the ridiculousness of a Shuppet being in Iscalder Cave, Gerald probably would have immediately called out his story to be bull, but as it stood they had more important things to worry about anyways. "...alright. We better hurry then. And don't wander off again!" He yelled back at Leo as he began to walk. Samuel and Lily followed first, and finally Leo fell in behind them.

He looked at the Shuppet again as he continued on his way, still curious as to how it got here and who could have left it. The pendant it wore he now recognized as being made of reflective gold- pure, it looked like. Had its owner been rich, he wondered? That pendant looked very valuable, with a gemstone within it as well. He figured the Shuppet must have belonged to someone rich- that would explain its lack of instinct and rather small form as well. If it had truly belonged to an abuser, it probably would've been working a lot harder to get away from him, and rich trainers usually fed their Pokémon choice foods that were more for pamperment than to improve growth. And he couldn't see its color that well in the low light, but it didn't appear to be normally colored...

"Hey! I see a light!" Came a cry from Samuel.

"You sure it isn't just our Lantern reflecting off some ice? Like it was the last time? And the time before that?" Lily asked a bit flatly.

"Yes, I'm sure this time! Come on!"

The taller boy thundered off towards the light he saw, and the rest of the party followed. It turns out this time his words had not been misplaced- the mouth of the cave lay before them.

"All riiight!" Lily grinned wildly, bolting out of the cave before anyone else could even get the chance. With Samuel muttering something under his breath about how she didn't even thank him, the three young men more calmly followed.

They ended up in a much warmer forest than the cave before- Leo recognized it as Route 6, the route right before Fjara Town. That was their destination, so the thought of almost being there greatly excited the boy- so much so that he almost dropped his lantern. He quickly got a hold of himself however. "This is it guys," he grinned to the others.

"Yup," Gerald smiled victoriously as he looked down the beaten path, as if he'd just conquered in battle against a tough opponent. "We finally got through that cave, and now we can go get our first Pokémon!"

"Yeah..." Leo agreed, though slightly less enthusiastic. The older children didn't seem to notice however.

"Come on! Let's go!" The girl of the group yelled back at them, already a ways ahead. "Or do you want to be here at night without a Pokémon?!"

"Certainly not!" Samuel yelped, quickly following her. And Gerald went after them, leaving just Leo, who stood there a moment, as if considering his options.

But he shrugged and followed them after only a moment's hesitation, into Fjara Town.

* * *

/And now we meet our human characters, as well as find out what Pokémon Yugi has become! (Probably gonna change the description to be 'loosely based', considering this story has humans as there's no memory loss involved.

I'm gonna have to stop typing this up on my phone though... especially when we get to longer chapters! Boy, those are gonna be... tough...

Iscalder is a slightly changed version of iskaldur (accented i), an icelandic word meaning Icy.

Fjara means beach.

Leo's name is somewhat based on ljos (accented o) which means light./


	3. CHAPTER 2: FJARA

/I do not own Pokémon or Yugioh! Gonna tell it to you straight chief, I got no idea what I'm doin'

Pray for me, because Joey's accent is going to send me to the Shadow Realm and back/

* * *

In Fjara Town, there was quite the commotion. Samuel nearly was tripped up as he entered, a green blur running by right in front of him. It was followed by a small crowd of angry locals, all yelling various profanities in regards to the thing and its speed. The travelling party of kids had to back up quite a bit just to avoid getting trampled.

"Excuse you!" The taller boy huffed after the angry mob. "Jeez, what's with those jerks?"

"I believe they're chasing someone," Leo offered, but he was quickly shut down with a 'Well duh, what gave you that clue Sherlock?' from Samuel.

"Should we follow them?" Lily asked Gerald. The near-adult seemed to consider it for a few moments.

He nodded. "Yes, I think we should. They might know where the lab is, and besides, we can help them catch whatever they're chasing. It must be some sort of outlaw or thieving Pokémon if so many people have gotten it within themselves to hunt it down like that." He began on his was after them, but stopped when Leo tried to get his attention. "What is it?"

"What about the Shuppet?" Leo asked worriedly, bringing the attention to the unconscious ghost yet again. It was clear now just how strange the ghost was- it appeared to have more horns than it should have, and its color was certainly off. Of course, none of the children had ever seen many Shuppet before, so while Leo worried these were symptoms of sickness, the others thought maybe they were just natural mutations a Shuppet could have.

Gerald considered this, and then looked around a bit. He saw a red roof, and pointed in that direction. "Me, Samuel and Lily will all go after that crowd, but you can go to the Pokémon Center."

"B-by myself?"

"You'll be fine. We're in a town, and its not that far. Just don't go into the alleys and you'll be there in no time."

"Gerald-" Leo tried to protest, but the oldest was already rushing off, Samuel and Lily following him.

"We'll meet you there, okay?!" and before the boy holding the Shuppet could respond to that, the three were gone.

Leo paused a moment, considering running after them. But this Pokémon needed help, and he was sure it needed it quickly; so he decided to do what Gerald said for him to and ran off to the Pokémon Center.

* * *

Joey, was, understandably, confused as all heck.

He had been watching his buddy duel Kaiba when Diva had decided to show up again as some eldritch monster. Everything had been falling down around around them, and eventually, he fell too. He coulda sworn he'd heard something right before his consciousness fell out completely, some sort of 'ping' noise, but what did that matter now?

Now he was in the wrong body, running for his life, and had no idea what he did to anger the people chasing him. All he'd done is woken up, jeez! Sure, there'd been a lot of strange crackling noises and lights coming off him when he'd realized he was some sort of dog-thing, and he HAD been pretty loud... what, were these people sensitive to noise or something?

Well, if there was one good thing about being a dog, he was a lot faster than his pursuers now. The blonde scrabbled up onto a trash can, then jumped up on a dumpster and was able to make his way to a low roof from there. He duly noted how horrible it smelled down there by the trash, but he didn't really have time to ponder about that. Now on the roof, he had an advantage against the mob after him, at least. There was a lot of angry yelling from down below, but so many people were speaking at once he couldn't pick out any one of them to listen to. "Look, sorry, okay?!" the teen-turned-dog growled in a bit of exasperation down at the mob. "I didn't mean ta make ya mad, whatever I did! 'M just really confused an' got no idea what's goin' on!"

They either didn't hear him or didn't care, as there was a whole lot less recognition of his apology and a whole lot more angry yelling. It was when someone started climbing up the dumpster route he'd used that he cursed and decided to book it again.

As he went from roof to roof, Joey became aware of a prickling sensation just under his skin- or fur? Eh, whatever, he'd just stick with the phrases he knew. It irritated him quite a bit, and in his focus on the sensation his situation decided to go from bad to worse. He ended up taking a roof that had too wide a jump for him, and with a yelp he fell back down into the alleyways.

He tried to get up again, but was pinned down by something from above. What- some sort of weird cell bunny rabbit? His confusion over the ridiculous monster was overshadowed by his survival instincts. "Lemme go!" he snarled, trying wiggle out from under its grip.

To his absolute surprise, it responded, rather angrily in fact. "Nuh-uh, no way! You expect me to just let you go when you scorched a quarter of the plaza? No, you've run your last gig, Electrike!"

"Electrike? What da heck?" Joey stopped for a moment to process what the cell bunny had called him. Was that what this breed of dog was called, or some weird insult? Wait, no, he didn't have time to think about that. There were more important questions he could be asking, like for example, "Whaddya mean I 'scorched a quarta' of the plaza'? I didn't even know I was IN a plaza!"

"You used an electric attack in the middle of the plaza!" The bunny explained, still refusing to let him go. It had a death grip on the poor guy. "Discharge too! You can't tell me you didn't KNOW you were attacking, especially with so many people around!"

"I didn't!" came the obvious retort from Joey. But before either of them could argue any more, a human with dark green hair and what Joey could only describe as 'shifty eyes' came into the alleyway where he had fallen. And there was the mob behind him.

"Good job, Reuniclus!" The human stated, the praise apparently directed towards the bunny, who smiled with pride from the praise. It notably also became a lot quieter. "Now... this Electrike... I wonder why it attacked so suddenly?"

Joey flinched away as the man squatted down to look at him, not liking the look in his eyes. This guy thought he was some sorta feral animal or something! "I didn't attack anyone!" the duelist protested loudly, but the green haired man didn't appear to hear his words.

"It's a beast!" An older, pudgier man with a red face and a stained apron bellowed. "My stand is ruined! That Pokémon burned my stand!"

"I didn't mean to!" he retorted, but once again, he just wasn't being understood.

Another disgruntled human made a claim, and then another. It seemed like everyone was out to get poor Joey, as they all began telling their own tales about what this horrible dog did to hurt them personally.

"It shocked my Pokémon!"

"It scared my children!"

"It fried my watermelon!"

Joey took a brief moment to question why someone would have just been carrying a watermelon around to make a story like that possible, but he didn't bother doing it aloud. He just tried to make himself as small as possible under the gaze of so many enraged individuals.

Oh jeez, was he gonna die today? Or go to the pound? He wasn't sure there even WAS a pound here but-

"EVERYONE PLEASE!" The green-haired man suddenly yelled, whirling on the crowd. "Calm yourselves for a minute! This Pokémon is obviously terrified, and if you keep yelling like this it might attack again! This Pokémon knows Discharge, and I think you're all well aware Reuniclus can't absorb all of that attack! Do you want to get shocked?"

There were a few unsure murmurs from the crowd, but they all quieted down significantly. The man sighed. "Now..." he knelt back down the the level of Joey, who was just settling for glaring to try and look at least slightly intimidating at this point. "Are you hurt, little guy? Why are you so scared and angry?"

"Look man, I got no idea where I am, I woke up like dis, and ova'all I'm havin' a real crummy day!" Knowing full well no words he said would be understood, Joey allowed himself to vent at this green-haired individual. "My friend got 'imself in a bad tourney, which turned into a life ah death battle between him and dis guy who nearly killed me! An' den I'M about ta get dusted, and I see dis gold light! But instead a' saving us whateva that was sent me here, I do somethin' I didn't even know I did, an' got chased by a mob until I ended up gettin' pinned! I'm not hurt, but scared an' angry? Heck yeah I'm scared an' angry!"

To his surprise, the man did not take his angry rantings with aggression or contempt, rather gently placing a hand on his snout. Joey found himself becoming quiet for reasons even he wasn't sure about, and he felt... sleepy? What the heck was this man doing to him?! "Ey, stop it," he tried to growl, but he couldn't bring himself to sound angry.

So... tired...

Staring into the face of the man with a look of tired confusion and some fear, Joey succumbed to sleep.

* * *

"Professor Myrtle did it again! Amazing!"

Professor Myrtle? That name sounded familiar to Lily, but was it really him...? The way that he had just calmed down that angry, teeth-baring Electrike with barely any trouble, it sounded like the rumors Lily had heard from other kids in Byrjun Town. That's right, that had to be...

"Professor Myrtle, the Pokémon Whisperer," Gerald seemed to confirm. His face didn't give many details on what he thought of the guy now that he was seeing him up close, but Lily figured he wasn't impressed. Or at least was trying not to be. Gerald wanted to be the cool adult, but he really had to learn to lighten up a little in Lily's opinion...

As the crowd was now beginning to thin out, Myrtle had happened to hear them. He turned around, his Reuniclus gathering up the Electrike behind him. "Oh? You three appear to be a bit worn out and disheveled, and you're sticking around... were you perhaps those three from Byrjun I was supposed to receive today?"

"H-how would you know that?" Asked Samuel, slightly awed by how he simply seemed to KNOW. It wasn't THAT obvious that they were Byrjuners, was it?

Myrtle laughed heartily. "Its alright, you don't have to look so startled. Not only did Byrjun's Nurse Joy tell me about you before you came, but also, you're in winter coats in the middle of spring! It's easy to tell you three trekked Iscalder Cave to get here!"

The two younger kids laughed awkwardly along with him, but Gerald tried to remain cool. "Can you take us to your lab then, Professor?" he asked. "I'm sure you already know why we're here after all."

"Of course!" Myrtle nodded with a wide grin. "We need to get this little one back to my lab anyways, so you can follow me there!"

And so the three followed.

* * *

Leo had been waiting for a while now. He wasn't sure how long- the only clock the Pokémon Center had in its lobby was a lousy, tiny analog clock. He was pretty sure it might be broken, though he wasn't certain, and even if it wasn't he wasn't about to waste his time trying to figure out what second of the day it was from a clock he could barely even read.

All he knew was, he'd been waiting a while. Nurse Joy hadn't come back to him news on the Pokémon he'd brought in yet, though he supposed that couldn't be helped. It took a lot longer to heal Pokémon the natural way, or at least that's what he'd learned in school, and if this Pokémon was wild, well, natural was all they could really provide.

And that wasn't the only thing he was waiting on. He was still waiting on his friends to get back, tell him what that commotion was and maybe even tell him they'd found the lab!

...Ah, who was he kidding? Once they found the lab they weren't going to think for a second about 'little Leo'. He knew from the start that he wasn't going to be receiving a Pokémon. Professors only gave out three Pokémon at a time to aspiring trainers- he was pretty sure it was a law. They could either give out three Pokémon to one trainer or one Pokémon to three- and one had to make reservations in advance. His mom had tried to make a reservation for him, and it even went through, but when he'd shown up to join the trekking party to go to Fjara Town, there hadn't been two, but three other kids, already beginning to take off. Apparently Lily had only gotten there a few seconds before him, actually, and that was the only reason why they weren't long gone. And he was pretty sure with his reputation in school they'd probably wished they'd been able to leave beforehand...

...but, now that he thought about it, maybe he still had a chance! Maybe this Shuppet had been- he didn't know, like- a chance from Fate herself for him to obtain a Pokémon at the same time the other three did!

He was kidding himself again, of course. Funny joke, him. There was no way this Shuppet would want to join him, especially if it was a victim of abuse. He just knew he wasn't going to get a Pokémon today. He'd just be able to add being the 'guy who went to Fjara Town for nothing' to his already extensive track record, not withstanding being weak, nothing better than a pack mule, being a crybaby-

-and if only to prove his point and embarrass himself further, wet tears were beginning to roll down his face. He covered his face and furiously began trying to wipe them away before anyone noticed and called him out on it-

"Um, excuse me sir? Are you alright?"

While Leo had been absorbed in his melodrama, Nurse Joy had come out of the back, only to find him beginning to cry. Leo, thankfully saved from puffy eyes so far, lifted his head back up to look at her in surprise, before quickly nodding with a "yesI'mfine!" that was honestly anything but reassuring to the nurse. "But- but we shouldn't be worried about me! What about that Shuppet?"

"Ah, that's what I came in to tell you about!" The nurse's worried face broke into a kind smile. "He's just fine, actually! He seems a bit shaken up and wary, so I suggest you approach him with caution- but thankfully, you don't have to worry about him having hypothermia or anything! A good, heated drying off was all this particular Pokémon needed!"

Leo almost began crying again in relief. Well, at least one thing was positive today- he should just focus on that!

"C-can I see him?" asked Leo, not even having known the Shuppet's gender before now.

"Of course! But like I said, be careful! He seems to be a somewhat Timid nature- he might startle easily."

With a nod and agreement to being careful, Leo stepped inside.

* * *

Okay. Okay, OKAY. He could deal with this. He was made of cloth, that much Yugi could tell. It reminded him of one of those sheet ghosts people always stereotype as being the 'easiest halloween costumes' or whatever. He also had figured out he could still will himself to move. And he found out pretty quickly when he'd tried to ask the nurse helping him where he was in a cracked voice that apparently, though he seemed to be able to understand her, that she couldn't understand him.

He could deal with this though! He had to, he had to figure out what was going on and what the heck had happened to him. Yugi felt like it was his duty, especially if he was going to be trapped in this world anyways. He got the feeling he was, as he was getting serious 'one-way-trip' vibes from this whole experience.

Yugi was about to start spouting theories to inanimate objects and anything else that would listen, about why he was a cloth and why he seemed completely fine when he very clearly should have gotten hypothermia from that ice water when a younger boy, from what he could tell, rushed in and over to where he was being kept in bed. Startled, Yugi yelped and attempted to shuffle away, cursing his useless... cloth? feet? What did he call the edges of his cloth?

"I'm so glad you're alright!" The boy, surprisingly quiet for his tone, smiled at him. Yugi didn't sense any maliciousness from him, though he found it strange that was what he was thinking about. "I thought you might have been a goner when I found you under that ice... it was lucky I found you, huh?"

It took Yugi a moment, but he realized and his eyes widened. This kid was the one who saved him?

"But I wonder how you got all the way out in Iscalder Cave? Were you abandoned by a trainer or something? Running away?"

These new vocabulary terms were only causing Yugi some unfortunate confusion. Trainer? Iscalder Cave? He blinked, and then shook his head. He tried his best to convey what he spoke- "I don't know."

Both the boy and the reentering nurse seemed confused by this, and Yugi cursed now the loss in translation not having hands probably provided. He was cursing things a lot today, but he supposed he really was having a bad day...

But the duelist-turned-cloth was surprised when instead of asking each other if they'd understood him or not, the boy turned to the nurse. "Why do you think that Shuppet doesn't know?"

What in the name of his ancestor Atem was a Shuppet-

"Perhaps he suffered more damage than I thought. I do believe Ghost types can get amnesia rather easily..." the nurse mused.

Well, Yugi was certain he didn't have amnesia, he was just very confused. He shook his head at her, but she didn't seem to notice. Instead she heard a loud beep from a nearby monitor and went over to check it. "Oh? I'm sorry, but someone else just came in. I need to go assist them," she apologized to the boy. "You can stay here if you want."

"I will, thank you."

The nurse left, leaving the, well, he guessed he was this 'Shuppet', alone with the kid, who went to collapse in a chair beside him. Yugi blinked at him- was he... supposed to say something?

"...If you really did lose your memory," the boy, staring at the ceiling, appeared to address him, "that must be terrible..."

It... admittedly probably would be terrible if he did lose his memory. And honestly, this was about as bad as such; with how little he knew about this world he seemed to be stuck in, he might as well had. Yugi simply decided to nod in agreement to the second part, at least. Today, this whole day really, had been terrible.

"Do you even think you have a home?"

Another nod. Though Yugi wasn't sure if his home was even there anymore. Whatever happened that sent him here, what if it sent his world into that other dimension Diva spoke about so much? Now that he had the chance to think about it, he was worried about all of friends, about all those people in the arena, about everything. For all he knew, his world was gone, and his friends were too.

He jumped a little when the boy clapped his hands against his knees. "Alright then! It's settled!"

"What's settled?" Yugi asked out of habit. Of course, the kid still couldn't understand him, but it was obvious enough of a question that he didn't really need to.

"I'm gonna help you find your way back home," the boy explained. "I was gonna be going on a journey around the region eventually anyways, so why don't I take you along? Maybe we can find out where you belong together!"

Yugi blinked. This had pretty much blown him away- he certainly didn't expect this kid to want to help him. He shifted backwards a little bit as the kid extended a hand.

"Come on, whaddya say?" Putting on a wide smile, the boy waited for his answer.

...

...Maybe this was what he needed to do. Come on, destiny was pretty much throwing this guy at Yugi's face. He honestly felt like he wasn't in a position to refuse. Besides, if he couldn't go home anyways, he might as well have someone to guide him here, right? At least until he can stand on his own two... feet. Right, didn't have those.

Feet or no feet, the Shuppet nodded and accepted his hand, placing the cloth that he assumed was equivalent to his own hands into the boy's hand, as if accepting a handshake.

For a moment, he thought he saw a fleeting face of shock in the boy's figure, but it was quickly replaced by excitement and giddiness. "All right! Thank you, Shuppet! Thank you so much, and I promise, I'll help you get home!"

Well, maybe this wouldn't be all bad...

The excitement was paused though, when the nurse rushed back into the room, looking extremely worried. She addressed the boy, now holding Yugi in his arms like a stuffed animal- strangely, Yugi didn't mind this- with a tone bordering on panic. "Can you please come with me, sir?"

She didn't even bother to tell the guy to put Yugi back on the bed as she grabbed one of his arms and led him out.

...guess this not being all bad was a pipe dream.

* * *

/AH SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG

I hope this doesn't turn out to be a normal thing but knowing me it will ouch oof

Byrjun means Beginning. I am not creative at all./


End file.
